Simon Lam wins WPT Gardens

Ice Cream shop owner ships WPT event! The WPT kicked off its 17th season with an event at the Gardens Casino outside of Los Angeles. Simon Lam faded a field of 584 runners to win the WPT Gardens. Lam banked $565,055 for first place, plus a 2018 Mercedes-Benz SLC Roadster. Lam defeated Jake Schindler heads-up for the win, cash, and Mercedes. Men the Master finished in third place.

Sometimes the lede writes itself. Ice cream shop owner licks competition! Or how about, put down the hash pipe and Phish food Ben & Jerry, here comes Simon Lam! The SoCal ice cream shop owner is a pretty rad poker player. Lam put his poker skills on display at the Hawaiian Gardens as he final tabled the WPT Gardens and outlasted a final table that included the legendary Men the Master and one of the top American pros in the game with Jake Schindler.

The Gardens Casino aka the old Hawaiian Gardens played host to the first stop on the new season of the World Poker Tour. The first event for the 17th season (that's XVII for you roman numeral nits) attracted 584 players and a prize pool that was $2.9 million. This event attracted a significant amount of local SoCal players including a blast from the past, Men the Master.

Men went deep in this event and posted his biggest cash in nearly 8 years, but it didn't happen without old Men hijinks.

Men the Master was up to his old tricks and pulled of a "joke bet" during the late stages of the event. In a hand with Steve Sung, Sung moved all-in on the turn. Men apparently called after dropping two big blue chips (worth T100,000) onto the felt. When Sung tabled trip Jacks, Men apparently pulled back the chips.

"I no do nothing!" screamed Men the Master, obviously caught in the angleshoot. The TD went to the videotape and all hell brokeloose. Men the Master had an open-ended straight draw... which he missed on the river.

Men the Master also passed out at the table at one point too. "Is this a drunken man gone wild? I dunno," said Joey Ingram (see video below).

Back to the action... Jesse Yaginuma bubbled the final table in seventh place.

The final six featured Men the Master, Jake Schindler, Simon Lam, Craig Varnell, Saya Ono, and Jared Griener.

Griener was the first player to exit the final table and went out in sixth place, Saya Ono was dunzo in fifth place. Craig Varnell was sent packing in fourth place.

Men the Master busted in third place, which set up the heads-up finale between Simon Lam and Jake Schindler.

In an unexpected move, six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu announced on Twitter that he stepped down as an ambassador with PokerStars. Kid Poker, who is second on the all-time money list with $39.8 million, ended his 12-year relationship with PokerStars as a pitchman and consultant. This abrupt news comes one week before the start of the 2019 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

The poker industry got a little love in the mainstream media with a 22-minute video piece by CNBC titled "Who Makes Money from Professional Poker?" The piece goes deeper into the business side of being a professional including staking and included interview bites with Ryan LaPlante, Derek Wolters, and Jeff Gross.

The 2019 WPT Choctaw in Oklahoma attracted 577 runners this year for the $3,700 Main Event. Only six are remaining and they will slug it out in Las Vegas on May 31 for another delayed final table to be hosted at the HyperX eSports Arena at the Luxor. Will Berry is the big stack with 7.5 million. Also, still alive are country singer Stacey Jones, Nick Pupillo, Craig Varnell, Austin Lewis, and Trung Pham. First place pays out approximately $380,000 plus a free seat into the season-ending Tournament of Champions at the Aria.

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partypoker LIVEMillions will make its American debut with a $5 million guaranteed MILLIONS Vegas 'Special Edition' that will take place at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas. The $10K buy-in event begins June 28 and the final table will conclude on July 2.

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American pro Bryn Kenney took down the 2019 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Montenegro Event #2 HKD $500,000 NL 6-Max for HKD $11,230,000 or approximately $1.4 million USD. Meanwhile, in Event #3 HKD $100,000 Short Deck, Winfred Yu defeated Ike Haxton heads-up for the title and HKD $2,040,000 in cash. Haxton now has two runner-up finishes in three events.

Maurice Hawkins set a record with his 13th WSOP Circuit ring victory in Tunica, Mississippi. The Florida pro won the 2019 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Tunica $400 NL MonsterStackevent for a $31K score. Hawkins tied the record last month with his 12th ring at Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina. Hawkins now has over $3.7 million in career winnings, with over $1.7 million in WSOP Circuit events.

Another day, another high roller victory for Steve O'Dwyer. The American pro took down the opening event at the 2019 Triton Poker High Roller Series in Montenegro. Event #1 HKD $250,000 NL Turbo 8-Handed. O'Dwyer and Ike Haxton agreed to a heads-up chop and played out for a little extra cash and the trophy. Haxton ended up busting in second place and O'Dwyer won another high roller title. The American pro won HKD $3,708,784 or approximately $472,420 USD for first place.

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